Don Satz: >I'm interested in the 20th century composer Aulis Sallinin and would >appreciate some feedback concerning his style, most rewarding works, >and recordings that best represent his soundworld. A longtime favourite of mine is BIS CD-41 which contains a good representation of Sallinen's music: the first and third symphonies; Chorali, a short orchestral work; pieces for solo violin and for solo cello; the third string quartet. I especially like the third symphony: powerful, much brass writing, an atmosphere of that sense of space in, say, the last movement of Sibelius's 5th, but not sounding like Sibelius very much. BIS CD-511 has the short Sunrise Serenade, the second symphony, which is essentially a percussion concerto, and the sixth symphony, which Sallinen wrote to a commission from New Zealand and followed a vacation there. Finlandia's Meet the Composer series - which appears to be still available - contains Shadows, which is a short ballet, the fourth and fifth symphonies, the Sunrise Serenade, the cello concerto and some works for small orchestra (4509-99966-2). There is also a Naxos (8.553747) of his "complete works for string orchestra" which duplicates some of the Finlandia program. A quick online browse has revealed, among others, a couple of recordings of the violin concerto, one of some - possibly all - string quartets and, interestingly, a CPO CD containing the first and seventh symphonies. This is scheduled for release in January and is conducted by Ari Rasilainen, who seems to be CPO's specialist in Nordic symphonies - his Atterberg series, for example, is superb, imo. It's possible that CPO is recording all the symphonies. Richard Pennycuick